TotW 04/08/2024 - 04/14/2024: GENESIS - Abacab

Difficult for me to rank this song.

Musically it's almost anti-Genesis, which makes it interesting also. It's an important song for the band (a fresh start, as we all know...). It sounds very improvised in the instrumental section, again something quite uncommon for them. I find the fade-out frustrating, but there is probably a good reason for it : maybe they didn't write the end, and it came only later, by rehearsing for the tour.

One thing that I don't like very much in the studio version is the overall sound, which I find aggressive (drums smashing...).

This song really acquired another dimension played live. It became quite terrific, with the double drums. It's probably Mike's finest hour in guitar playing. Each time I watch a live performance (especially around 1986-1987), I get caught by the energy. The long final is my favourite moment.

It's worth noting the small differences in the instrumental section from one night to another, it's quite enjoyable.

What's curious is that it became almost forgotten by the band after the 80's, despite being so important for their new musical approach.

Still, I have to say that I have other songs I prefer, even if I like it.

Mixed feelings maybe... But it's still one of my favourite bands.

11/15.

Great crunchy rock track.

I used to think the outro jam was uninspired (especially when compared to Duke's Travels before and Second Home by the Sea after) but the minimalist approach grew on me.

Came alive on tour and I enjoy the Three Sides Live and IT versions.

Wish they played it on at least one of the reunion tours.

13/15

When I first played the album, the title track's immediacy and power were striking compared with the sound of Duke; it was like they were reaching out of the speakers to slap you round the face. Hugh Padgham had made a massive difference to the production. The song had space too, with four distinct areas, drums, guitar, keyboard and vocals, rather than keyboards washing over everything, and they had avoided jumbling everything together with the greater use of compression.

The song part is very good. Neat, direct and catchy. As for the instrumental part, there is a vast difference between studio and live. The studio version is very spacious, almost ambient in places, like they were making a conscious effort to avoid overplaying, and it works quite well except for the fade out which leaves me feeling like it never quite got where it needed to go. The live version is a different animal, much ballsier, rockier, and on the occasions when Mike didn't fluff the guitar solo (which I think Daryl would have smashed and taken to a different level) it made quite a statement. Like Trick of the Wuthering, I like the 3SL and IT versions. I didn't so much care for the Mama Tour version, which for me is let down by the live sound production and Mike's thin sounding guitar.

It's one of the "pop era" tracks that I continue to enjoy and I think it should have appeared on one of the last two tours. It's a high energy track though and quite long so I can understand why they didn't bring it out of mothballs.

I love the immediacy of the opening bit, the urgency in the chorus and then the way it kind of devolves into an instrumental section that is atypical for Genesis in feeling very formless. It's also one of those "all change" songs for the band, like Follow You Follow Me. As a nod to the other thread about Banks keyboard, I like the somewhat crystalline character his sound has in this track. The short chords that swell before Phil's vocal in the final chorus is a nice embellishment that stood out to me as I was discovering the band. I really like this song. 14.

I like it and as a 'totem' for/intro to their change of approach it works well.

It has one of my favourite lines of any Genesis lyric: "When you wake and find you're covered in cellophane/There's a hole in there somewhere". They needed more of that kind of oddness in their work. I like the whole lyric for its lack of clarity and slight strangeness, it was a nice antidote to some of their previous wordy noodlings. Perhaps that's one way in which as Duke of Earl of Mar says it's sort of 'anti-Genesis'.

I echo the above positives regarding the live versions, which improved with each tour - it was a set highlight come the IT tour, the energy of that rendition is terrific. We've heard that it didn't get revived on the 07 tour due to PC deciding he didn't like the lyric. I'd have liked to heard it then, was it in the running for TLD? Seeing as like one or two others rehearsed it found its way on the album.

Quote from thewatcher

The short chords that swell before Phil's vocal in the final chorus is a nice embellishment that stood out to me as I was discovering the band.

Is it a backtracked vocoder vocal? TB was using vocoder at the time - very prominent on Duchess (including the 3SL album and film) and M&SJ.

Quote from Duke of Earl of Mar

One thing that I don't like very much in the studio version is the overall sound, which I find aggressive

That's exactly one of the things I like about it.

Quote from Backdrifter

Perhaps that's one way in which as Duke of Earl of Mar says it's sort of 'anti-Genesis'.

I hadn't think about the lyrics when I wrote my post, but you're right.

It was more about the music, with a very minimalist harmonic approach : there is only a few chord changes, overall it stays in C, and the song is quite long. I should have written "anti-Banksian" maybe.

Quote

Is it a backtracked vocoder vocal? TB was using vocoder at the time - very prominent on Duchess (including the 3SL album and film) and M&SJ.

Probably. A vocal part recorded, played backwards, and the audio goes to the external synth input of the Roland vocoder, which is processing it.

Tony also used this external input live, by plugging his Prophet 5 (above the CP70 piano on the Duke tour) to the vocoder placed in his back when playing the piano. It's why we see him singing "Ahhooooooaaaeeeeh" during the chorus of Duchess, and playing the prophet and not the vocoder. We do hear the vocoder though.

I'm also sure he is using it on Man of our Times.

Cracking track on any terms, great opener for an album, great way to announce a new direction and a track where each member contributes a first rate performance. I like it as a single and as an album track and especially so because it is driven by very strong drumming.

Like Backdrifter, I like the lyrics, although for a long time I thought it was ‘there’s a hole in the somewhere’ which I still prefer and would make it even more off the wall. Happy times

Anti-Genesis definitely, along with the entire album. It is very rough, brittle, harsh, in a "deal with it" way. Still one of the catchiest songs on the album. And yes, I have to agree to previous comments, the instrumental second half is mostly uninspired and boring, and right when we finally get a guitar solo the song fades out. I also agree the 3SL live version is miles ahead of the studio version. Which is why giving a vote wasn't too easy, I would have voted the album version lower and the live version higher. No matter what, the song is not really my cup of tea.

I sometimes blame this song for the fade out myth. If you know the live version well, the studio version appears as if the fade out comes right on Mike's guitar solo.

Quote from Thelawnmower

Cracking track on any terms, great opener for an album, great way to announce a new direction and a track where each member contributes a first rate performance. I like it as a single and as an album track and especially so because it is driven by very strong drumming.

Like Backdrifter, I like the lyrics, although for a long time I thought it was ‘there’s a hole in the somewhere’ which I still prefer and would make it even more off the wall. Happy times

Agreed about 'hole in the somewhere'' although it makes no sense, Perfect song. 15.

Quote from Backdrifter

was it in the running for TLD?

I'm fairly certain it was. Didn't one of them make a comment to effect of "we know how to play it" during an interview or promo of some sort? It's a hazy memory so I can't pull up a reference but it gave me the distinct impression they had rehearsed it and until late in the game was a contender for making the setlist. Actually it's one I've heard on the radio and in bars in the US here, so I was convinced they'd swap it in for the US leg of the tour, and specifically avoided the set list discussions after the European leg was over.

Edit: we had a discussion about it before!

Thread

Nothing from Abacab again

I know they rehearsed the song Abacab but ultimately it wasn’t played. It is now three straight tours now without any songs from that album. Is that the bands least favorite album? In my opinion it was a pretty important album in Genesis history since it was a transitional album to their more pop era. Curious what everyone thinks about this omission?

nes75

May 12th 2022

Edit 2: I just read through it, and it devolves into a dirgey thread with little to recommend it 😃. Best avoided

One of their finest from the middle period. I give 14!

Quote from thewatcher

I'm fairly certain it was. Didn't one of them make a comment to effect of "we know how to play it" during an interview or promo of some sort? It's a hazy memory so I can't pull up a reference but it gave me the distinct impression they had rehearsed it and until late in the game was a contender for making the setlist. Actually it's one I've heard on the radio and in bars in the US here, so I was convinced they'd swap it in for the US leg of the tour, and specifically avoided the set list discussions after the European leg was over.

Edit: we had a discussion about it before!

Thread

Nothing from Abacab again

I know they rehearsed the song Abacab but ultimately it wasn’t played. It is now three straight tours now without any songs from that album. Is that the bands least favorite album? In my opinion it was a pretty important album in Genesis history since it was a transitional album to their more pop era. Curious what everyone thinks about this omission?

nes75

May 12th 2022

Edit 2: I just read through it, and it devolves into a dirgey thread with little to recommend it 😃. Best avoided

As someone who was heavily involved with it it was interesting to read it again.

Quote from FeelItComing

As someone who was heavily involved with it it was interesting to read it again.

Yes I found it entertaining. Especially since you and I were of course absolutely right and spoke with reason, balance and good sense.

I love how different it is. I love how rhythmically focused it is. The jam in the live versions is my favourite section.

ABACAB live was always a highlight for me, shame they dropped it eventually....but I can understand why

I gave it a 14 - one of the first Genesis songs to catch my ear, and really different from most of the rest of their songs once I got to know more of their catalogue. Always mystified by the lyrics, but I guess that's largely a result of jamming in the studio & scatting vocals as they went?

Love Tony's ballsy synth tone here - helped by a distortion pedal as I recall? Like others mentioned, absolutely love how the instrumental part became more dynamic live!

15!!!!

Quote from Schrottrocker

Anti-Genesis definitely, along with the entire album.

One that's more for the album thread, but I disagree with this. The Genesis sensibilities and DNA are absolutely threaded through this album, they're just being expressed in a different way than before.